Can an Idol Be a Mogul?

Armed with a $300 million war chest and powerful backers, Ryan Seacrest is jump-starting his efforts to build an entertainment empire. A look at what's next from the man who brought the nation the Kardashians.

By

Merissa Marr

Updated Aug. 30, 2012 7:49 p.m. ET

Through his cheery on-air TV persona, Ryan Seacrest is firmly ensconced as America's face of lite entertainment. He calls himself as plain as vanilla ice cream. "Being the flavor of ice cream that goes with other flavors, that's my business," said the host, poolside at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York.

Behind this ordinary facade, however, is the kind of driving ambition that conjures the mailroom-to-mogul stories of Hollywood. The onetime chubby teen from Georgia has clawed his way up the entertainment ranks,...